Restaurants Uncovered: BJ’s Restaurant Brewhouse
An alternative post title here would be: “No Really, a Salad is Not Your Best Bet.”
I have previously written about BJ’s and their famous pizookie desserts. Though I was disappointed in the way the nutritional guide was labeled for the “Pizookie Trio” serving sizes, I am still overall a very happy patron of BJ’s because they do provide this information to their diners.
Besides those delicious pizookies, BJ’s serves extremely tasty pizza, salads, burgers, and other typical “bar foods.”
After scouring the nutritional guide for nearly twenty minutes trying to decide what to order, I finally decided to start with an appetizer of Thai Shrimp Lettuce Wraps. The entire order, pictured below, is just 272 calories (sans sauce), and I also presume it to be low-carb (if you’re into that sort of thing.)
Also low-carb would be the Chicken Lettuce Wraps, but for some reason, those are nearly double the calories at 492 for the order.
As far as a main entree, my first thought was to order a salad. Hmm, how about the Honey-Crisp Chicken Salad? Sounds good, but for 1,465 calories, I’ll pass.
Perhaps the Sesame Chicken Salad? A lot lower, but still 950 calories.
When I was honest with myself, what I really wanted was pizza, and pizza was what I was going to get.
For only 576 calories, I ordered a Mini Vegetarian, and enjoyed every last bite.
After years of being nutritionally-conscious, I should know by now that restaurant salads are often the biggest calorie culprits. All those additions and fun toppings can really add up!
For me, this dining experience just reinforces how important it is to have an idea of the nutritional content of food at restaurants. Sure, some days I’m still going to eat what I want regardless, but in this scenario, what I wanted was actually lower calorie!
Question of the Day
When was the last time nutrition facts at a restaurant surprised you?
9 Responses to “Restaurants Uncovered: BJ’s Restaurant Brewhouse”
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I’m often surprised by how many calories and fat restaurant salads have! Your pizza looks and sounds like an excellent, delicious choice!
Thanks for all the little tips. Really helpful. By default I always order my salads sans dressing, crunchy things, and cheese. I used sala or lemon/lime to coat my salads.
I love using salsa as salad dressing…great tip!
The Cheesecake Factory calories AMAZE me. Everything is portioned insanely large, so you can guess which direction the calories are!!
i feel like so many people always assume ceaser salads are the best option and when they find out that they’re like the WORST option their jaws hit the floor!
pizza!! excellent choice
Recently I learned the calorie count for the Red Velvet cheesecake at Cheesecake Factory…wowzers, did not know it was that much? It won’t stop me from eating but now I will just have to enjoy small bites and savor it and learn to share the slice with others.
Thanks for this article on BJ’s restaurant. Very imformative.
Good thing they provide nutritional info. That’s a ridiculous amount of calories for a salad! I mean I know there are veggies with vitamins or something in it, but you can make that at home for a fraction of the cals. Pizza is definitely a good choice
I live in Colorado and am going to BJ’s today for lunch. I am in Weight Watchers and wanted to check out their menu/nutritional info so I know what I am going to get there and found this on their website: At this time BJ’s Restaurants provides nutritional information for each menu item in California and Oregon.
BUMMER! I look for Fat, Carbs, Protein and Fiber and basically every website I have found pretty much only mentions the fat and calories. Not quite sure how to figure out my points…. I think I’ll go for the half flatbread pizza and salad with their vinagarette which they claim is an enlightened entree and under 575 calories!
What a bummer! I have yet to see their new Enlightened menu. I usually go with the mini veggie pizza. I think that’s around 550 calories or something pretty reasonable. Good luck!